Reading Assignment: Matthew 13:24-43
Main Idea/Truth: True disciples will enter the kingdom of God.
Key verse: Matthew 13:43
Three parts to this section:
1. Parable of Wheat and Tares
2. Additional parables
3. Explanation of Wheat and Tares
Prayer Suggestions:
1. Commitment to be a true disciple
2. Confession and repentance where I fall short.
Transcript
Let's pray. Our Lord, thank You for another morning to draw near to You to worship You. Thank You that Your word is with us, and Your voice is ever more speaking into our lives. Thank You, our glorious God, for how You love us and care for us, for how You guide us every day. We pray that You would teach us and that You would build up everyone here, whether here this morning or reads the transcript afterwards. May each one be encouraged and be built up in Your word. The Lord bless each one. Thank You for Your great care for us this day. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
The next passage to be read is from Matthew 13:24-43. The main idea and the central truth is that true disciples will enter the Kingdom of God. True disciples will enter the Kingdom of God. That's, of course, set against the opposite truth which is that false disciples will not enter the Kingdom of God. What Jesus teaches us in this section is the difference between the two, and that the difference between them will be for a season very subtle. But in the end, the Lord knows the difference, and He will welcome true disciples into the Kingdom of God. Verse 43 is the key verse, where Jesus says, “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” There are three parts to this section. The first part is the parable of wheat and tares. In the second section, Jesus gives us few additional parables that shows the expansiveness of God's Kingdom. And then finally in the third section, Jesus explains the parable that He told in the first section.
So firstly, the parable itself, parable of the wheat and tares. This is verses 24 through 30. Like the parable of the Sower, this is another agricultural story. The landowner of this particular farmland sowed good seeds in his field. But while he was sleeping, an enemy sowed tares. You might be wondering, “what are tares?” Tares are weeds that resemble wheat. Until they're fully developed, they appear just like wheat. This is why the enemy sowed tares, he wanted to ruin the landowner’s crops by doing this sly thing and introduce weeds that are very difficult to distinguish from wheat. Well, as the wheat was growing, so were the tares. Some of the slaves noticed this, and so they asked the landowner whether they should pluck the tares and eliminate them. The owner's answer is a little surprising. He actually answered, “no.” And so we might ask, “Why not? Why not just get rid of the tares?” It's because the difference between wheat and the tares is subtle at this point. And the landowner wants to make sure that the wheat is not harmed by the early uprooting of the tares. And so he tells his slaves to wait until the harvest time when the difference between the two will be stark. Then there will be no way to mistake the wheat from the tares. And so it won’t be until the harvest time that the tares will be removed from the field. Just like the parable of the Sower, Jesus gives an explanation later when the disciples had asked for it. This is because Jesus gives more to those who truly seek Him, those who have a heart to understand. But before we get to that explanation, Jesus first tells a couple of additional parables, and so this brings us to the second section.
The additional parables are found in verses 31 through 33. Jesus gives us two more parables, one regarding the mustard seed and the other regarding leaven. These parables both described the expansiveness of the Kingdom of heaven. So, first the mustard seed. This part is so straightforward, I’ll just read it. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; And this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” What Jesus means is this. The Kingdom of heaven begins very small, just a tiny little seed, but it becomes vastly expansive. Jesus tells another parable very much like this in verse 33. This story is about leaven, which is just another word for yeast. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.” Just like the mustard seed, yeast begins small but it spreads widely until it has spread throughout the entire dough. With these two parables, Jesus emphasizes the expansiveness of the Kingdom of heaven. He shows that there will be many who appear to be included in that Kingdom because it spreads so expansively, but that not everyone who names the name of Jesus is a true disciple. And this is rather obvious even today. There are countries where Christianity has become its majority religion, and yet the population of that country is not truly Christian. Even though their religious identity may be Christianity, their moral values do not reflect Jesus' words as well as their interests, priorities, and mindset. None of these things really reflect the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ. One example is the country of my birth, South Korea. The country is, religiously speaking, vastly Christian, and yet morally and spiritually, the country is in a tailspin. They have no sense of Jesus' will for their lives. The same thing can be said about lots of other places in the world where Christianity is said to be its majority religion. But there continues to be grave problems in the moral and spiritual condition of their population. In any case, Jesus explains with these two additional parables that the Kingdom of Heaven does indeed expand very widely. And implied in this is the point of the first parable, which we will now see in the third section.
The final section is the explanation of the parable of the wheat and tares. This is verses 34 through 43. The disciples asked for an explanation of that parable. They say to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” And Jesus explains it. He first says that the sower (or the landowner) who sowed good seeds is Christ. It's Himself, He calls Himself the Son of Man as He usually does. How about the enemy that sowed tares? Jesus identifies this enemy as the Devil. He explains further that the good seeds are the sons of the Kingdom, or true disciples of Christ, who enter the Kingdom of heaven. The bad seeds are the sons of the evil one, or false believers, who do not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Now, the main point of the parable, as I said earlier is that the difference between the false believers and the true believers will be very slight. It's not until at the end of the age that Christ will call for the gathering of the false believers to pluck them out from the fellowship of true believers. He calls them lawless as those who commit lawlessness. By the way, this is very much like the language from Matthew 7, where Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven will enter.” What Jesus is saying there is this, that true disciples will be recognized by the way they honor the will of God and His commands. And Jesus also says in Matthew 7:23 that those who are banished from God's presence practice lawlessness. The language is very similar to this one used here in Matthew 13. And the point is this, that true disciples and false disciples will belong to the same community until the very end when the Lord will call for the removal of false disciples. We may ask, “What will happen to the false disciples?” Jesus explains their end in a very severe language. He says that they'll be thrown “into the furnace of fire where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The language “weeping and gnashing of teeth” is the description Jesus used of eternal damnation. So then, false disciples are no better than unbelievers, or non-disciples. Their end will be the same as that of unbelievers. They are no better for having gone to church or having mingled with true Christians. On the flip side are true believers (true disciples), and Jesus says of them, in verse 43, “they will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Then Jesus concludes with this, “He who has ears, let him hear.” What He means is this. Since false believers and true believers appear very similar at the outset, and you can’t tell the difference until the very end, His call is for everyone to take heed to His message. If you would, we are all to make sure that we are true disciples of Christ, that we would hear Jesus’ words and respond with faith, repentance, and obedience, that we would never be dismissive about His words, even a warning like this one. Jesus wants all those who are genuine to be encouraged to walk in the strait and narrow path. He wants us to follow Him truly and to not fall away and to not veer off course. He wants us to continue to trust in Him as Lord and Savior and keep His word.
Well, what can we pray about in light of this? I think the topics for prayer are rather obvious. The first is to express our commitment as true disciples. I'll tell you what. I don't want to be a false disciple, and I'm sure all of you will say the same thing also. And that's the very first thing we can pray about. We can say to the Lord, “Lord Jesus. I hear what You're saying and I want to have the kind of ears that really hear what You are saying. I don't want to be the sort of person who hears and immediately forgets like the first soil in the other parable. I want to be a genuine disciple. I pray that You would guide me and help me to always be dead honest with You and to deal with the issues of my life honestly before You. You can see all things and there is no way to hide anything from You. Help me to always respond with faith and obedience. I pray that You would keep me close to Your word and that I would not be influenced by false ideas that would try to draw me away from Your pure words. Thank You for all the ways You have, by Your grace, worked in my life, and I pray that You would finish that work in me, that You would ever more guide me in the paths of righteousness.”
Perhaps another thing to pray about is. If there's anything that bothers you in your conscience where you have not been responsive to the Lord, this would be the time to pray about those matters. Jesus already knows all the issues of our lives, and we can go to Him with all of them. I suppose even if there is an attitude of indifference in your heart, we can bring those to the Lord also. And so we might pray something like this, “Lord, is there any area in my life where I am not obeying You? Forgive me, I repent. I want to walk according to Your word and I want to make it right, because it is not right to continue to rebel against You. That is the heart of a false believer, a false disciple, and I don't want to have a heart like that. And so I open up my heart to You. I pray that by Your Holy Spirit You would convict me. And I, on my part, I'm committed to making things right with You. My life belongs to You. You have purchased me with Your own blood, and I just want to serve You and keep Your word. I pray that You would help me to do this and to follow through. Also, if there's any attitude of indifference in me where I am conveniently ignoring any part of Your word, O Lord, forgive me. That is wickedness to snub You and to ignore Your word. I don't want to do that. I give my heart to You. Help me to be a wise man who hears what You say, trembles at Your word, and aligns my life after Your holy word. Thank You for Your patience with me. I depend on You to guide me in a life of true discipleship, because You are the Lord and You alone are the Savior. There is no one like You and I want to follow You. Amen.”
Well, this is one of those passages where Jesus does speak with severity. It is a warning passage and we of all people, we believe all the warning passages. And I think anyone with any level of honesty in their own hearts, they would hear these words and ask themselves, “Am I a true believer or not?” To ask that question is really the right response. That is really to have ears to hear what Jesus just said. And so I want to encourage you to respond to the Lord honestly from your heart and receive Jesus's warning. It is good for us and if we hear Him truly, He will train us, correct us, and direct us toward His right paths. Well, that's it for this morning. It's a little heavy topic this morning, but nonetheless, all that Jesus says is for our good, and so I am thankful to Him for these precious words. Lord bless you all, and see you Friday morning.